The Only Time Ever When Plastic Water Bottles Are Okay

Yes, nothing matters to us more than kicking the single use disposable habit in America.  The societal and environmental implications of bottled water consumption on a regular basis during non-emergency times are detrimental to the environment, very expensive, and in many cases very unhealthy. But they serve their purpose. Like ice cream and a big juicy steak, once in a while and on special occasions, bottled water is okay. But while eating double chocolate chunk and red meat everyday stretches out our midline, drinking bottled water every day shrinks our wallets and bulks up our favorite beaches and parks with plastic.

Like everyone else on the East Coast, my time over the last several days has been dominated by prep for and recovery from Hurricane Irene. On Friday, we went to 4 stores to buy bottled water and cans of beans.  On Saturday, we watched movies in anticipation of losing power and not being able to do so. And at 2 AM the power went out. Our substation is flooded, so we still don’t have power—and won’t until September 4 at the very earliest.

Our house has a septic system with a well, which means that we don’t get water from the city but from under our house, and electric pumps draw it up to our faucets and showerheads. Yes, it’s the 21^st century, but we live in a rural region. In fact, there 40 million Americans depend on private wells. And when we’re out of power, we’re out of water.

Let me break down what this means for you what this means: any time our power goes out (which it does frequently), we can’t put our cups under the tap to take a drink. We can’t flush the toilet without filling the tank with 5 gallons of water every time. And we have to go to the gym to shower.

I hate single use plastics of every kind. I really do. And shopping around to buy water before the storm and now after is a real drag for me. After all, the water itself is frequently taken from communities without their full understanding or consent and the plastic is both made from petrochemicals and is one of the single greatest sources of pollution on land and underwater.

But at the same time, my family wouldn’t be able to carry on living in our house during what’s looking like will be a two week long power outage. And in disaster areas and war zones, where there isn’t any tap, much less tap water, to speak of, bottled water keeps refugees and disaster victims hydrated and clean.

Video Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video